LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The uptick in students disciplined for weapon-related offenses continues at Jefferson County Public Schools as Superintendent Marty Pollio prepares to unveil his administration’s proposals to strengthen security at Kentucky’s largest public school district.
JCPS students were disciplined for bringing weapons on school campuses or buses 237 times from the start of the 2021-22 school year through Nov. 23, up more than one-third from the 174 weapon-related referrals issued in the first 69 school days of 2019-20, according to data provided by the district in response to open records requests.
Compared to the 63 weapon-related referrals issued in the first 69 days of the 2018-19 school year, discipline for such offenses has increased by 276% so far this year. This school year is the first with JCPS students back in classrooms on regular schedules since March 2020, when schools across Kentucky closed in response to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The violence and the trauma that we're seeing manifest in our broader community is making its way into our schools,” said Katy DeFerrari, assistant superintendent of culture and climate at JCPS.
Louisville has set homicide records in the past two years. JCPS has seen significant increases in the number of students disciplined for bringing stun guns, knives with blades 2.5 inches and longer, and noxious substances like pepper spray so far this year compared to the first 69 days of the 2019-20 school year, according to district data.
One more handgun-related referral has been issued so far this school year compared to the 2019-20 school year. Students have been disciplined for possessing handguns 17 times so far this year.
Students have easier access to weapons at home and often do not fully understand the dangers associated with them, especially younger students, DeFerrari said.
JCPS and community organizations help provide social-emotional supports for students caught with weapons on school property and their families, and the district provides training and support for employees in areas like positive behavior interventions and supports and bullying prevention, she said. JCPS continues to increase its network of schools that have implemented restorative practices, she said.
“The student has to be accountable for doing something dangerous. There is no question. And that accountability looks many ways and can look many ways,” DeFerrari said. “But beyond accountability, what are we doing to help teach and help mitigate future unsafe situations from happening? We are doing both.”
“I think it's unfortunate that people — young people especially — are turning to guns to solve personal disputes,” Jefferson County Teachers Association Vice President Tammy Berlin said.
Some students have been unable to handle disagreements with others, including teachers, as school operations return to regular schedules, Berlin said she has heard from JCTA members.
“They escalate faster, and they have lost part of their capacity to know how to interact with teachers,” she said, adding that she has heard from more teachers having trouble with student behavior issues this school year.
“Student behavior in general has been causing some teachers to change careers and leave the classroom,” Berlin said. “I know a few who are personal friends of mine who are exiting right now.”
District support staff face a similar dilemma. Sue Foster, president of the Jefferson County Association for Educational Support Personnel, said she spoke with 60 retired members during a recent retirement party hosted by the labor group and most cited student behavior and underappreciation as reasons for their retirement decisions.
“When you work for a school system, you want to come to work every day to educate these children and to help them learn and achieve in life,” Foster said. “You don't want to come to school every day in fear for your own.”
JCPS and many other school districts throughout Kentucky and the U.S. are experiencing shortages in classroom teachers and other staffing areas.
Safety is “absolutely” a concern for bus drivers, school security monitors and others represented by Teamsters Local 783, President John Stovall said.
“They're put in a tough situation sometimes by some of these kids, and then if they react a certain way, then they're getting punished themselves or terminated from their employment,” he said. “… They're scared to death because they know their hands are tied and they really can't do anything.”
Five JCPS schools had students referred for weapon-related offenses at least 10 times through the first 69 days of the 2021-22 year: Highland Middle School and Johnson Traditional Middle School with 13 each, Jeffersontown High School and Stuart Academy with 12 apiece, and Iroquois High School with 10.
Iroquois had the most referrals for students with handguns with four followed by Marion C. Moore School and Western High with two each and Doss High, Pleasure Ridge Park High, Atherton High, Seneca High, Liberty High, Minor Daniels Academy, Stuart Academy, Lassiter Middle and McFerran Preparatory Academy with one apiece.
In two incidents, referrals suggest students pointed guns at other students.
An eighth-grade Minor Daniels Academy student was reportedly pointing a weapon at students waiting for a bus at the intersection of Main and 41st streets on Nov. 17, and a ninth-grade Iroquois High student pulled a weapon from his pocket after being struck by another student and pointed it at them outside the school’s gym on Nov. 18, the two handgun referrals say. The Iroquois High student was suspended while the Minor Daniels Academy student was already serving an out-of-school suspension, according to the referrals.
The Nov. 23 incident at McFerran Preparatory Academy involved the youngest JCPS student caught with a gun on campus this year.
According to the referral, the fifth-grade student told two others that he had a loaded handgun in his backpack. Those students then told a teacher, who alerted school administrators. The fifth grader caught with the loaded gun was referred for in-patient treatment after assessments by a school counselor and The Brook, the referral says.
“A 10-year-old bringing a gun to school in a backpack goes well beyond school issues,” Pollio said after the Jefferson County Board of Education’s Dec. 14 meeting. “These are community issues that have to be tackled as a community in the right way.”
Pollio told board members that evening that the district planned to host a series of community forums in January to gather input on proposals to bolster security at JCPS schools. Formal recommendations could come before the board for a vote in February, he said.
Details on security proposals slated for public scrutiny are few, though Pollio said the district intended to assign armed security monitors to clusters of schools and hire safety administrators to oversee security measures at middle and high schools.
“Extensive training,” he told the board, will be pivotal for both positions if approved. JCPS declined to provide additional details on Pollio’s security plans, such as technologies under consideration and training requirements for arming security staff.
State law requires armed school resource officers to be assigned to schools depending on available funding and qualified personnel, and JCPS has come under scrutiny from Louisville Metro Police Chief Erika Shields and others for not having armed resource officers in schools.
JCPS has been without school resource officers since the start of the 2019-20 school year after Louisville Metro pulled 17 officers from schools in response to budget woes and a split board did not approve contracts with other law enforcement agencies for 11 officers.
Representatives of JCPS labor groups are eager to see details of Pollio’s security proposals.
Foster hopes the proposed JCPS security administrators will have law enforcement backgrounds and that the district’s security team, especially those who are certified police officers, are involved in crafting Pollio’s recommendations. The district has 11 sworn officers on staff.
JCTA does not have a position on school resource officers at JCPS, but Berlin said the union will listen to feedback from teachers as Pollio makes his proposals public.
“We want our buildings to be safe, but we don't have a position on how the district should do that,” she said. “We're just watching to see what they come up with, and we'll see how that goes.”
Stovall said arming security monitors would be a good idea considering some have years of experience with their schools. If the board moves in that direction, he believes the new responsibilities for security monitors should come with a pay raise.
“You’re making them one of the sole persons in that building to provide security for everyone in there,” he said. “Naturally, you’d have to reward them for doing that.”
Regardless of the board’s decision in upcoming security talks, DeFerrari believes strongly in the district’s work to identify root causes of situations and connect families with resources to help.
Nothing is more important than helping schools identify and understand trauma among their students, she said.
“The biggest piece is talking to everyone and providing everyone the information they need about things like trauma, about things like understanding relationships in schools, effective ways to de-escalate kids,” DeFerrari said. “Those components right now are critical to continuing to mitigate unsafe situations.”
Addressing community violence, however, will require deep collaboration throughout Louisville, she said.
“It is a broader community issue, and we will all have to work to solve it,” DeFerrari said.
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